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Trade union struggle under neoliberalism: Croatian experiences

Trade union struggle under neoliberalism: Croatian experiences. Mario Ivekovic Novi sindikat. Current situation in Croatia. total market liberalization through the privatization of the state-owned companies and the commons liberalization of the labor law:

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Trade union struggle under neoliberalism: Croatian experiences

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  1. Trade union struggle under neoliberalism: Croatian experiences Mario Ivekovic Novi sindikat

  2. Current situation in Croatia • total market liberalization through the privatization of the state-owned companies and the commons • liberalization of the labor law: • legal expansion of the precarious types of employment • flexibilization of working time

  3. Trade union response Privatization • lack of serious resistance during the transition period (90s, 2000s) • 2013: first attempts to form organized resistance against the monetization of highways and the privatization of public utilities in the City of Zagreb Labor legislation • 2010: the coordination of five union confederations collected 800.000 signatures for referendum against the liberalization of the labor law • loss of public support due to the union leadership's compromising agreement with the government

  4. Obstacles for organizing union struggle • multiplication of unions • inability to adapt to the new circumstances • drastic reduction in the number of professional union staff • top-down decision making • lack of cooperation with other social actors

  5. Attempts to organize serious resistance: experiences of the Novi sindikat • institutionalization of the bottom-up approach • organizing and supporting workers’ actions, even the more radical ones • education and intensive work with union representatives • emphasis on the field work • redirecting finance from social programs to union activities • expanding cooperation with other actors

  6. Struggles in 2013 • with the participation of NS: Domaća tvornica rublja, Croatia Airlines, sector of humanitarian demining (the most successful example) • strike for collective agreement in the sector of hum. demining: • 3 unions vs. 26 private employers and 1 state-owned company • around 300 strikers spent 13 days at the improvised camp on the city square in Zagreb • results: • a branch collective agreement with higher salaries • the first salary increase on the branch level since the beginning of the crisis • unionization of deminers increased from 50 to 80 percent

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